Experimental combo for advanced colon cancer shows early promise but trial halted

Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.

* INCLUSION CRITERIA: * Patients must have histopathological confirmation of colorectal cancer. * Patients must have radiologically confirmed liver metastasis. * Patients must: * have progressed on \> 2 lines of standard of care chemotherapy for colorectal cancer OR --been intolerant of standard of care chemotherapy for colorectal cancer OR * refused prior standard of care chemotherapy for colorectal cancer. * Patients who have a known Kirsten rat sarcoma (KRAS) wild type tumor must have progressed, been intolerant of or refused anti-epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) based treatment. * Patient's tumors must be documented to be microsatellite stable (MSS). * Patients must have at least 1 focus of metastatic disease that is amenable to pre- and on-treatment biopsies and be willing to undergo this. Ideally, the biopsied lesion should not be one of the target measurable lesions, although this can be up to the discretion of the investigator's * Patients must have measurable disease by RECIST v 1.1 criteria. * Age greater than or equal to 18 years. Because no dosing or adverse event data are currently available on the use of nivolumab in combination with Vascular Biogenics (VB)-111 in patients \< 18 years of age, children are excluded from this study, but will be eligible for future pediatric trials. * Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status 0-1 * Adequate hematological function defined by: * white blood cell (WBC) count greater than or equal to 3x10(9)/L * absolute neutrophil count (ANC) greater than or equal to 1.5x10(9)/L * lymphocyte count greater than or equal to 0.5x10(9)/L * platelet count greater than or equal to 100x10(9)/L * Hemoglobin (Hgb) greater than or equal to 9 g/ dL (more than 48 hours post-completion of blood transfusion) * Prothrombin time (PT) and Partial thromboplastin time (PTT) (seconds) \< 1.2 x ULN. Patients who are anticoagulated do not need to meet criteria for PT and PTT * International normalized ratio (INR) \< 1.2 x ULN. Patients who are anticoagulated do not need to meet criteria for INR. * Adequate hepatic function defined by: * a total bilirubin level less than or equal to 1.5 x ULN, * an Aspartate transaminase (AST) level less than or equal to 2.5xULN in the absence of hepatic metastasis; or less than or equal to 5 x ULN in the presence of hepatic metastases, * an Alanine transferase (ALT) level less than or equal to 2.5xULN in the absence of hepatic metastasis; or less than or equal to 5 x ULN in the presence of hepatic metastases -Adequate renal function defined by: * Creatinine OR Measured or calculated creatinine clearance (CrCl) (estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) may also be used in place of CrCl) (A Creatinine clearance (CrCl) or eGFR should be calculated per institutional standard.): * \< 1.5x institution upper limit of normal OR greater than or equal to 50 mL/min/1.73 m(2) for participant with creatinine levels greater than or equal to 1.5 X institutional ULN * The effects of nivolumab and VB-111 on the developing human fetus are unknown. For this reason, women of child-bearing potential and men must agree to use adequate contraception prior to study entry and for the duration of study participation and up to 5 months (women) and 7 months (men) after the last dose of the nivolumab or 2 months after the last dose of VB-111 whichever is the longer time period. Should a woman become pregnant or suspect she is pregnant while she or her partner is participating in this study, she should inform her treating physician immediately. * Troponin level in normal range at the time of enrollment. * Patient must be able to understand and willing to sign a written informed consent document. * Weight \> 35kg * Patients must be enrolled in tissue collection protocol 11C0112. EXCLUSION CRITERIA: * Patients who have had standard-of-care anti-cancer therapy or therapy with investigational agents (e.g., chemotherapy, immunotherapy, endocrine therapy, targeted therapy, biologic therapy, tumor embolization, monoclonal antibodies or other investigation agents), large field radiotherapy, or major surgery within 4 weeks prior to enrollment. * Patients who have had anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) therapy within 4 weeks prior to enrollment. * Patients currently on a corticosteroid dose greater than physiologic replacement dosing defined as 10 mg of cortisone per day or its equivalent. * Patients with known brain metastases because of their poor prognosis and because they often develop progressive neurologic dysfunction that would confound the evaluation of neurologic and other adverse events. * Patients with signs of liver failure, e.g., clinically significant ascites, encephalopathy, or variceal bleeding within 6 months prior to enrollment. * Prior major liver resection: remnant liver \<50% of the initial liver volume. Patients with a biliary stent can be included. * Patients with active autoimmune disease or history of autoimmune disease that might recur, which may affect vital organ function or require immune suppressive treatment including systemic corticosteroids. These include but are not limited to patients with a history of immune related neurologic disease, multiple sclerosis, autoimmune (demyelinating) neuropathy, Guillain-Barre syndrome or Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy (CIDP), myasthenia gravis; systemic autoimmune disease such as Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), connective tissue diseases, scleroderma, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), Crohn's, ulcerative colitis, hepatitis; and patients with a history of toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN), Stevens-Johnson syndrome, or phospholipid syndrome. Such diseases should be excluded because of the risk of recurrence or exacerbation of disease. Of note, patients with vitiligo, endocrine deficiencies including thyroiditis managed with replacement hormones including physiologic corticosteroids are eligible. Patients with rheumatoid arthritis and other arthropathies, Sjogren's syndrome and psoriasis controlled with topical medication and patients with positive serology, such as antinuclear antibodies (ANA), anti-thyroid antibodies should be evaluated for the presence of target organ involvement and potential need for systemic treatment but should otherwise be eligible. * History of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (including bronchiolitis obliterans with organizing pneumonia) or evidence of active pneumonitis on screening chest computed tomography (CT) scan. * Uncontrolled intercurrent illness including, but not limited to, ongoing or active infection, symptomatic congestive heart failure, unstable angina pectoris, cardiac arrhythmia, or psychiatric illness/social situations (within timeframes identified in the bullets below) that would limit compliance with study requirements. * History of severe or unstable cerebrovascular disease. * Pulse oximetry \< 92% on room air * Myocardial infarction within 6 months prior to enrollment * History of myocarditis * Sustained hypotension (\<90/50 mmHg) or uncontrolled hypertension (\>160/100 mmHg) * Stroke within 6 months prior to enrollment. * Patients with proliferative and/or vascular retinopathy. * Significant vascular disorders (e.g., aortic aneurysm, requiring surgical repair or recent peripheral arterial thrombosis) within 6 months prior to enrollment. * History of hemoptysis (\> 1/2 teaspoon of bright red blood per episode) or active gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding within 6 months prior to enrollment. * Evidence of a bleeding diathesis or significant coagulopathy (in the absence of therapeutic anticoagulation) * History of abdominal fistula or gastrointestinal perforation within 6 months prior to enrollment. * Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive patients are excluded because HIV causes complicated immune deficiency and study treatment can possess more risks for these patients. * Prior autologous or allogenic hematopoietic stem cell transplant. * Subjects with ascites. * Patients with unhealed surgical wounds for more than 30 days. * History of allergic reactions attributed to compounds of similar chemical or biologic composition to nivolumab or VB-111. * History of severe hypersensitivity reaction to any monoclonal antibody. * Prior invasive malignancy (except non-melanomatous skin cancer) unless disease free for a minimum of 3 years prior to enrollment. * Pregnant women are excluded from this study because nivolumab and VB-111 potential for teratogenic or abortifacient effects are unknown. Because there is an unknown but potential risk for adverse events in nursing infants secondary to treatment of the mother with nivolumab and VB-111, breastfeeding should be discontinued if the mother is treated with nivolumab and/or and VB-111.